What’s your favorite slam album and why? Do you value catchiness in your big bruutz? Clear production? Melodic presence? My favorite slam alternates with my mood between Devourment’s Obscene Majesty and Analepsy’s Quiescence; the former for the excellent execution of such a narrow sound, and the latter for the colors and beauty imbued into the otherwise bone-shattering grooves. Though given a bad rap for its easy-to-emulate smoothbrain caveman stereotypes, slam has shown much evolution in recent years as bands continue to push and redefine the limits of extremity. Hailing from Chile, new outfit Sermon to the Lambs have arrived with their self-titled debut, coming with the usual aggrandizing promises of maximum aural violence and assurances of a downright traumatizing listen for anyone who has ears to hear; will this sermon find the hearts of true believers or leave the congregation cold and unmoved?

Well, at least they know their way around a riff. Periodic snapshots show Sermon to the Lambs at their proselytizing best, with the occasional moment raising itself to headbangable proportions (“Crowned King of the Worms”, “God Spat and the Man was Done”) with a high octane assault. Slam styles range from the chunkier chromatic walks of Maggot Colony or Condemned, to moodier setpieces near the end of “Clergy’s Malevolence” for tonal shift and a sense of climax to round out the release. Melodies are almost completely excised in favor of a full steam ahead barrage, which rarely tinkers with tempo changes or distinguishing features, placing Sermon to the Lambs as students of the class of professors Disgorge and Gorgasm with regard to their commitment to bludgeoning the listener to death.

Sermon to the Lambs by SERMON TO THE LAMBS

Unfortunately, those highlights are few and far between and only serve to exacerbate how unbelievably bland this album is. Vocalist Richard Aguayo falls prey to the maddening trend of not knowing how to let his vocals support the music, choosing instead to slather almost the entire album with belches and brees which possess little sense of diction or phrasing. His gutturals are excellent, but the frustrating insistence on double-tracking them with his more shrill screams is not, and the mix has him pushed so far forward that he frequently drowns out whatever interesting musicality might be hiding underneath. Songs stop and go on a dime, and frequently I’d be surprised to see I was several tracks deeper into a listen than I thought I was, thanks to song conclusions and kick-offs blurring together in composition. Any random 30 seconds chosen to play would certainly unleash an attack filled with energy and enthusiasm, but Sermon to the Lambs is utterly devoid of truly head-spinning moments or anything to warrant repeat listens.

What is the biggest culprit for this? The mix is no help, with all the knobs on the board shoved all the way up to 11, leaving instrument and vocals fighting for attention while the bass’s body is buried in the backyard and forgotten. For the most part, the riffs are no help, a hodgepodge of expected staccato presentations and a beige haze of blasts. The drumming is no help; while skillfully delivered, there are certainly no fills to catch the listener’s attention. Other than the aforementioned moments of semi-memorability in the bookending tracks, there’s definitely no run of riffs to raise horns and toss beer at innocent passerby. Sermon to the Lambs lacks any dose of menace or cinema, though the band definitely tries, taking a page from the book of Brodequin and injecting some Gregorian chant into an intro (“Maximum Apostasy”) before that too devolves into paint-drying and bird watching. The closing track makes a valiant effort to get some real atmosphere with its tempo shifts, and Sermon to the Lambs wisely err on the side of brevity with the releases 30 minute runtime. But ultimately, this is an opaque, textureless, flavorless album, so focused on the brutalizing that it never manages to get out of first gear and approach anything with replayability.

I’ve wrestled for a while on why this is. Objectively, there’s nothing executed that’s “poor” in the literal sense. Instruments are played well, throats are wildly abused, and snares blow out the treble in your speakers with savage glee. One might argue that this was the very vision, and if such monotonous brutality is your jam, you’ll probably find lots more to like here. But slam is capable of its own artistic merit and is more than malleable to compositional adventures, and Sermon to the Lambs is lacking heavily in both artistic vision (beyond “kill”) and compositional adventures. If straightforward jackhammer thrashings are your parish, you’ll find plenty of good word here, but this lion lamb will be attending services elsewhere.

Rating: 2.0/5.0
DR: 41 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Comatose Music
Website: Album Bandcamp
Releases Worldwide: March 6th, 2025

Show 1 footnote

New year, new beginnings. And just as my resolutions refresh and my word count resets to zero, Chilean quartet Oraculum arrives to break the seal. These connoisseurs of the “tried and true” first graced these pages more than ten years ago with their counter-breaking EP, Sorcery of the Damned—back when EPs still qualified for regular reviews outside of our now annual EP/Split/Single Roundups.1 That initial offering was a grim manifesto on old-school death metal (OSDM), forging deathly Incantations into a sharp, lethal slab of barbaric hostility. After a second EP and years of underground existence, these purveyors of all things old are ready to exhume the classic formula once again. Far from reinventing the wheel, with their first full-length, Hybris Divina, Oraculum is out to prove that while the year is new, death metal’s ancient pulse remains as potent as ever.

Hybris Divina is a primordial love letter to OSDM’s early days. Oraculum leans into the festering rot of early Death and Morbid Angel, anchored by Scourge of God’s vocals—a throat-shredding hybrid of Obituary-style barks and classic Motörhead grit. On standouts like “Spiritual Virility,” “Mendacious Heroism” and “The Great One,” Scourge and Gaius Coronatus’ guitars collide in a cavernous vortex of spiraling mid-tempo riffs, trilling leads, abyssal whammy-dives and violent tremolo churns, punctuated by Conqueror of Fear’s unhinged tribal blasts. Bathed in a thick, suffocating reverb, Hybris Divina floods its own tomb with an opaque production style that demands a period of ear adjustment for Oraculum’s sound to translate into its intended, grim form, but also grants the kit a massive boom and the guitars a meaty, ghastly allure.

Hybris Divina by Oraculum

Hybris Divina reaches its apex when Oraculum relies on its high-energy, technical merits. “Mendacious Heroism” and “The Great One” serve as the primary conduits for the album’s fury, resurrecting the primitive spirit of Scream Bloody Gore with serrated, stair-stepping riffs and a turbulent sense of movement. While the performances embrace a rugged looseness—resulting in the occasional missed beat or frayed edge—these human imperfections ultimately bolster Hybris Divina’s grit rather than hinder its occult-infused frenzy. Scourge’s vocals remain Oraculum’s most consistent strength, delivering disgusting viscosity with tons of emotion and a satisfying gruffness to guide even the album’s weaker tracks (“Dolos,” “Posthumous Exultation”) to completion. But the clear crown jewel here is the late track “Spiritual Virility.” Ushered in by a badass war horn, it represents the group at their most purposeful. Never feeling too long, the song features an attention-grabbing technical riff-set with all the classic OSDM fixins, culminating in Hybris Divina’s finest moment: a galloping, descending monolithic riff that slices through the cavernous production with genuine hook-driven power.

While the highs are peak OSDM, Hybris Divina frequently loses its way in its own ossurian depths, feeling significantly longer than its 41-minute runtime suggests. Despite consisting of only 8 tracks, the record frequently meanders, revealing a palpable need for tighter editing. “Posthumous Exultation,” “Dolos” and “Mendacious Heroism,” for instance, all drift too aimlessly during their closing stretches, relying on repetitive loops and a deluge of frantic shredding that dulls Oraculum’s lethal edge. Even the superior “The Great One” falls victim to a chaotic shred-fest in its final moments. Making matters worse are the ritualistic intro, “A Monument to Fallen Virtues,” and its mid-album counterpart, “The Heritage of Our Brotherhood.” These short pieces are difficult to justify; their spoken-word segments and anemic guitar leads feel more like distractions than essential thematic segues. This is particularly frustrating because Oraculum clearly understands the value of a motif, like when “Carnage” successfully revisits the record’s opening themes to create a much-needed sense of continuity within the mayhem.

Hybris Divina delivers some solid cuts of old-fashioned death worship that, despite stumbling over its own arcane fervor, remains unapologetically true to its roots. There is plenty of primal substance here for the OSDM faithful to satisfy their cravings for the new year, but inconsistent songwriting and bloat mask Oraculum’s true talent. While this Chilean outfit has already proven they can summon the spirit of the genre’s founding fathers in shorter bursts, future offerings must hone the sacrificial blade and tighten the ritualistic focus.

Rating: Mixed
DR: 9 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s mp3
Label: Invictus Productions
Websites: invictusproductions666.bandcamp.com/album/hybris-divina | facebook.com/oraculum.chile
Releases Worldwide: January 9th, 2026

#ThursDeath for this week is the excellent debut EP 'Under the Mantle of Desolation' from Chile's blackened death-doom outfit MYST that came out a couple days ago.

https://mystoneiric.bandcamp.com/album/under-the-mantle-of-desolation

These are several dynamic, grueling, fairly lengthy slabs of disgust with killer vocals-- including some occasional agonized wails of true despair.

#metal #DeathMetal #DeathDoom #BlackenedDeath #Chile #ChileanMetal #ChileanBands #SouthAmericanMetal #SouthAmericanBands @brian @HailsandAles @rtw @swampgas @Kitty @c0m4 @nnenov @umrk @guffo @flockofnazguls

Burning Sun – Retribution Review

By Angry Metal Guy

By: Nameless_n00b_607

It has been a much slower year for power metal than I would like. There have been a couple of fun releases here and there, but the volume of quality output has been very low. The classic ‘90s style of guitar-forward and keyboard-minimalist power metal has been significantly lacking in particular, and Burning Sun is looking to change that. Naming themselves after a Helloween song,1 this half-Hungarian, half-Chilean duo is on a mission to tell a classic fantasy story through a legacy sound. Burning Sun’s sophomore album, Retribution, lands only two years after their debut, Wake of Ashes, continuing the story of a paladin named Emaly.2

Burning Sun pays homage to various ‘90s European power metal bands well. While the debut was all about breakneck brightness, Retribution sets its sights towards the guitar grit of Iron Savior and Primal Fear (“Cold Winds,” “Fight in the Night”). The anthemic qualities of Helloween dominate across the board (“Open Your Eyes,” “Shadows Undone”),3 and the occasional Iron Maiden-informed gallops and choruses are a welcome presence. Of the duo, Zoltán Papi4 handles the bass and lyrics, whereas Pancho Ireland doubles as vocalist and guitarist. Ireland has a knack for emulating the classic style of power metal riffage they’re no doubt both fans of, opting for rhythmic hooks rather than lighting up the fretboard. He has upped his vocal game, too, navigating wail and grit in Zak Stevens fashion. Furthermore, he is now the only lead vocalist. Where the debut disoriented itself, juggling three voices, Retribution relies solely on Ireland’s pipes and is better for it. Reducing the number of hands on deck reinforces both vocal and instrumental cohesion.

Burning Sun’s focus on guitars over keyboards is a welcome change from current norms. Power metal of the European variety is often mischaracterized as the over-the-top synth-laden side of the genre, even though it’s never been that simple.5 I love a good mission to Mars, but sometimes remaining at ground level is a better option, and Retribution largely sticks to German conventions. Burning Sun enforces a guitar-first attitude and swears by the triumvirate of soaring anthemic vocals, triumphant guitars, and charming choruses. The culmination of this approach is the stunning Primal Fearesque lead guitar melody on “Cold Winds.” Unfortunately, Retribution does stray from its own design philosophy at times. For example, the moodier ‘80s synth stomper “Aftermath” features some vocal fumbles and feels out of place so early into the album. The voice acting at the end of “Cold Winds” is unintentionally hilarious and breaks immersion—once again confirming that storytelling works best when left to the music and lyrics. The album’s minor drawbacks fortunately never snowball into any major issues, and it never loses its critical fun factor.

Retribution is short and sweet but could pack a bigger punch. I’m a big fan of the trend of younger (and even some older) bands starting to write tight and concise records again, and Retribution is no exception. Below 40 minutes and sans the gargantuan epics that often characterize the genre, it’s a highly replayable breeze. But it feels like Burning Sun is still holding back its full potential. The record does its job well but lacks ambition, and I wouldn’t mind it flying a bit closer to the sun—just a bit more heft, speed, and drama to spice things up throughout. Retribution doesn’t need more songs; its material just needs to rip and tear more. It lacks a true barn burner, the likes of “Steel Tormentor,” or indeed, “Burning Sun.” Cuts like “Heart of Darkness” and “By the Light” are damn close to fortune and glory. Likewise, further production improvements can only help. The sound is better than on the debut, but it could still use punchier drums and more prominent bass. I’m content with what the album delivers, but the flame can and should burn brighter.

Retribution is a fun throwback to the glory days of power metal. Burning Sun isn’t doing anything extraordinary, but they’ve accomplished their goals of writing a good, earnest tale of swords and sorcery. It’s the sort of comfort food that I can never have enough of. The trajectory looks promising for Burning Sun, and I’m curious to see if they can enchant their blades in the future and set aflame the ground beneath.

Rating: Good!
DR: 9 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s CBR MP3
Label: Metalizer Records
Websites: Bandcamp | Facebook | Instagram
Release Date: August 22nd, 2025

#2025 #30 #Aug25 #BurningSun #ChileanMetal #Europower #Helloween #HungarianMetal #IronMaiden #IronSavior #MetalizerRecords #PowerMetal #PrimalFear #Retribution #Review #Reviews #WorldOfWarcraft

Infernal Thorns – Christus Venari Review

By Kenstrosity

You may ask if the world needs yet another Satan-worshipping, demon-loving, God-forsaking metal band. The rational answer is probably a resounding no. And normally, I would agree. But I recognize that moving away from those themes is a lot to ask of the metalverse. Chilean thrashy death metal imps Infernal Thorns certainly aren’t inclined to stop reveling in hellish delights just because it’s a stereotype. They’ve been doing it since 2003, after all, and doing it quite well. So well, in fact, that after spending two weeks with third tome Christus Venari, I hope they never listen to me and keep churning out killer tunes from the nine circles for all eternity.

Evoking the same raucous debauchery that made icons like Goatwhore famous, Infernal Thorns prioritize riffs, fun, and blistering energy above all else on Christus Venari. A veritable smorgasbord of thrashy outbursts, squealing solos, demonic growls and banshee rasps, and pummeling percussion awaits listeners as they venture through 38 minutes of all-out destruction. With full-bodied tones, serrated distortion, and a clear—but not overly polished—mix, Christus Venari is as pleasing to the ear as it is threatening to the spine. It’s a classic, no-nonsense approach to scorched death metal that honors what made the genre the phenomenon it is today, but with a little bit of infernal magic to keep it fresh and exciting.

Christus Venari is a record capable of overriding the critical thinking process, replacing all higher functions with mindless headbanging and stank-face grimacing. It does this primarily by invoking an endless horde of memorable motifs, thoughtful transitions, and risky songwriting choices that pay dividends. From the outset of pounding opener “Death Chants” to the relentless call and response of “Implore Me,” Infernal Thorns embody the sounds of hell with a salacious enthusiasm sure to infect the minds of millions. This is where those memorable motifs and buttery transitions shine best, especially highlighted by the tremolo-spiced flourish of “Christ Distressed,” the Incantation-ized stomp of “Black Flesh,” the charred one-two knockout of “Finis Incipiet” and “Officiate Lapidation,” and the regal brutality of “Desde El Infierno.” When possessed, “Profane the Mass” comes close to its final throes, Infernal Thorns throw a daring vocal trick into the mix. Modulating death growls into an arpeggiated melody—complete with a pitch shift three repetitions in—Infernal Thorns creates an outright terrifying effect. Another big swing, epic eight-minute closer “Illuminated by the Flames” forges a spine-tingling guitar melody that persists in various forms throughout, drilling its form into my brain for an age, but convincing me of its worth with remarkable consistency.

Considering every song earned mention in a paragraph dedicated to Christus Venari’s virtues, it’s natural to wonder, “What are its sins?” The truth is, Infernal Thorns crafted this record so well that most of its sins are minor, and all are disguised by the sheer amount of fun and the endless vitality it exudes. With time and very focused listens, I found that as successful as closer “Illuminated by the Flames” is, it’s still about two minutes too long with most of its bloat manifesting in an overly extended fade out. Additionally, albeit strong tracks like “Black Flesh” and “Death Chants” are liable to recall influences more strongly than they are to strike a novel chord. Put another way, Infernal Thorns rely on established tropes and beloved genre conventions to hook listeners in with some of these numbers. Consequently, there’s less room to showcase more of the creative songwriting choices that make the most compelling material here (“Profane the Mass,” for example) stand out.

These are but minor quibbles. In sum, Christus Venari is a high-energy, high-reward record, blazing the sky with killer songwriting. It’s been difficult to put down, and with each new spin, I grow fonder of it. It’s not the most creative example of the style, nor will it challenge the status quo of hell-centric death metal. However, it’s the most fun I’ve had with the subject in this style since Nexorum’s incredible Death Unchained, and that’s high praise. Miss this at your own peril.

Rating: Very Good!
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s mp3
Label: Personal Records
Websites: infernalthorns.bandcamp.com | infernalthorns.com
Releases Worldwide: September 12th, 2025

#2025 #35 #BlackMetal #BlackenedDeathMetal #ChileanMetal #ChristusVenari #DeathMetal #Goatwhore #Incantation #InfernalThorns #Nexorum #PersonalRecords #Review #Reviews #Sep25 #ThrashMetal

Iron Spell – From the Grave Review

By Steel Druhm

Sometimes, we in the AMG Writers Guild grab a promo based solely on the band or album name, or the combination thereof. If it features any derivative of the word “vomit,” you know Mark Z will put his dirty paws all over it. If it has a wonky, prog-tastic moniker, Dolphin Whisper will seize the means of wank production. And if an alloy gets name-dropped, chances are Yours Steely will snatch it quicker than you can say CROM! That’s what brought me to Chile’s Iron Spell and their sophomore release, From the Grave. These chaps have been minimally active since they dropped their debut back in 2016, releasing a single some years and nothing other years. Now they’re finally back in the hunt with a proper new record, and boy does it scream 80s metal with leather-lunged ferocity. It has a NWoBHM foundation, but features nods to the US power metal scene and early speed metal. It’s harder to get more entrenched in the Wheelhouse of Steel than that, so the odds of my letting that creepy floating vampire monster into my humble abode are high.

Things open like a drunken pub brawl in London circa 1979 with “Curse of the Ushers.” It sounds like the earliest days of the British metal explosion, with that trademark punky gallop and unpolished vocals full of piss, motor oil, and beans. It’s a vibrant mash-up of olden acts like Satan, Diamond Head, and Savage, and it plays right into what AMG Himself describes as my “NostalgiaCore” fetish. It isn’t far from what Enforcer and Wolf do, but this feels a bit more authentic to the NWoBHM beginnings. It’s just a fun fucking song with classic heavy metal burned into its genetic code. From there, Iron Spell rip through a collection of old timey tunes that feel like they were exhumed from 1982. “Release from Darkness” is a rabble-rouser that uncorks the high-energy spirit of classic metal while shoving an iron fist down your throat. Then the band shake things up by launching into a 5-plus minute instrumental that brings the thunder to the tundra in happy abundance. I’m not the biggest instrumental appreciator, but this one kicks arse and wins you over with scads of wild and woolly guitar heroics that are tough to resist.

As From the Grave soldiered on, I kept waiting for the bottom to fall out, but it never did. Song after song brings the 80s magic to the party and makes you love the past. Even when “Whispers of Sorrow” shamelessly poaches the guitar lines from Queensrÿche’s “Breaking the Silence,” it still ends up a hard-charging beast feaster with more entertainment value than Lars Ulrich trapped in a hot tar dunking booth. I defy you to spin “Devil King” and not throw horns or execute your best stadium-ready air guitar maneuvers. It’s that kind of tune, and you’ll eat it up if you have any joy left in your jaded soul. Elsewhere, “Deep in the Night” will be my unofficial anthem for this summer as it’s made for loud play whilst slugging cold beers with derelicts and dear ones alike. Without any song tripping and faceplanting, From the Grave ends up a high-spirited romp through the salad days of metal while requiring zero I.Q. points to appreciate what Iron Spell are smelting. At just under 41 minutes, it’s the ideal length, and the songs all burn by in a flash. This is The Way.

This album is a guitar fiend’s wet dream. Fire Jack and Raven (their actual legal names) bring all the chaos, charm, and over-the-toppiness of 80s metal to their riffing, shredding, and lusty soloing. These boys can rip up a fretboard and do so at every opportunity. The rough n’ ready riffs are plentiful and punchy, and when it’s time for dueling solos, you get PainkillerERED. They go all in on the six-string abuse in the name of excess, leaving you rocked hard and put away moist. Frontman Merciless K.co (wut) has a wild vocal approach, sometimes sounding like Enforcer’s Olof Wikstrand, occasionally like Wolf’s Niklas Stålvind, and other times like a Screaming Mimi. His delivery is raw and unpolished, and at points his tone and pitch wander off the reservation, but it doesn’t even matter. The vocal pandemonium is a big part of the album’s charm, and it works for Iron Spell even when it absolutely shouldn’t.

From the Grave is a delightfully unhinged trip back to the early days of metal’s majesty, and I’ll be spinning it a ton as a salve for the emotional wounds left by Ozzy’s passing. This is like a party in a can, and you should crack it open and see what happens next. We all need a little pick-me-up right now, right? Iron Spell has you covered in unbridled 80s glory.

Rating: 3.5/5.0
DR: 10 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Dying Victims
Websites: facebook.com/ironspell | instagram.com/iron.spell
Releases Worldwide: July 25th, 2025

#2025 #35 #ChileanMetal #DyingVictimsProductions #Enforcer #FromTheGrave #IronSpell #Jul25 #NOWBHM #Review #Reviews #Satan #Savage #Wolf

#TheMetalDogArticleList
#DEADRHETORICCOM
Iron Spell – From The Grave

https://deadrhetoric.com/reviews/iron-spell-from-the-grave-dying-victims-productions/

#IronSpell #FromTheGrave #DyingVictimsProductions #Steelhammer #ElectricConjuring #ChileanMetal #TraditionalHeavyMetal #TwinGuitars #MelodicMetal #SpeedMetal

Mawiza – ÜL Review

By ClarkKent

Mawiza, an indigenous band from Wallmapu, a territory out of South America’s Mapuche Nation (spanning Chile and Argentina), has seen a sudden rise in recent years. Formed in 2014 as Nunca Seremos Dichosos, their second album, 2019’s Kollong, would go on to win them Chile’s version of the Grammy awards (called the Pulsar Award) for Best Metal Artist. In 2021, they adopted the name Mawiza and decided to sing entirely in their ancestral language, Mapuzungum, instead of Spanish. Their music garnered enough attention from Gojira, Mastodon, and Mercyful Fate to open shows for them in front of large crowds, and Gojira’s Joe Duplantier even collaborates on a song with them. To top it off, Seasons of Mist saw enough in Mawiza to sign them ahead of the release of their debut, ÜL. 1 They’ve got quite a story, and now we find out if they have the goods.

The word ÜL means chant, and that’s a good description for their overall musical approach. Lead singer Awka Mondaka delivers a chant-like vocal performance, and the guitars and drums play a start-stop rhythm that complements Mondaka’s chants. Gojira’s influence is undeniable in the form of pinch harmonics and slides that constitute major instrumental techniques. The intro to “Wingkawnoam” sets the stage for the harmonics, and hardly a minute passes on ÜL without hearing them. Mawiza uses the combination of pinch harmonics, guitar riffs, and heartbeat-like drums to create a groovy sound that’ll get you bouncing and swaying side to side. A couple of breakdowns (“Ngulutu,” “Nawelkünuwnge”) lend a metalcore touch, though their overall sound defies simple genre tags. Nature is also an important component, both thematically and aurally. With a good pair of headphones, you can hear birds tweeting (“Wingkawnoam”) and insects trilling (“Pinhza Ñi Pewma”).

While the early songs have moments of groove to keep things fun, it’s the middle of ÜL that shines the most. These tracks stand out as more melodic than the rest. “Mamüll Reke” is a slower, ballad-like tune, but it’s also one of the catchier tracks, with a chorus that’ll make you want to learn Mapuzungum so you can sing along. It’s the closest to having a traditional structure of any song on ÜL, which makes its selection as one of the lead singles no surprise. Perhaps my favorite is “Wenu Weychan,” which creates some great energy with a combination of thumping, heavy guitar riffs and powerful blast beats. In particular, Txalkan’s rhythmic drum work makes this so much fun that you want to get up and dance. Yet these songs also display some of Mawiza’s songwriting pitfalls. As much as I love “Wenu Weychan,” it goes on for two minutes too long with some weird instrumental shenanigans. “Nawelkünuwnge,” which opens with an enjoyable Pantera-like riff, eventually devolves into an unusual drop beat breakdown. Decisions like these kill the momentum on otherwise killer tunes.

The final third of ÜL highlights its true weaknesses. “Lhan Antü” and “Kalli Lhayay” feel like half-baked rough drafts instead of well-tuned, coherent tracks. There’s a moment three minutes into “Lhan Antü” where it begins to transform into a different, far more interesting song, but the rest of it sounds like aimless banging on the drum and noise-making with guitars. “Kalli Lhayay” makes use of cybernetic-sounding riffs and vocals that sound like Skynet hacked into Mawiza’s recording session. The conclusion of “Kalli Lhayay” demonstrates how grating those pinch harmonics can be from overuse–at the most extreme, they sound like a simulation of tinnitus. The inability to write memorable hooks and melodies leads to inconsistencies throughout ÜL.

Perhaps it’s my Western concept of music that is getting in the way of enjoying Mawiza’s ÜL as much as I should. I like hooks and melodies, and it’s not as if the album is entirely devoid of these things, but it’s not as hooky or melodic as I’d like. There’s plenty to enjoy, though. The energy on display provides almost enough momentum to carry throughout the entirety of the record. And even if the songwriting is uneven, the musicianship is top-notch. I’m not a guitar player, but I can appreciate the difficulty of playing pinch harmonics, especially to the extent that Mawiza employs them here. I see ÜL as a good start, and with some better songwriting, the next one could be something special.

Rating: 2.5/5.0
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Seasons of Mist
Website: Bandcamp
Releases Worldwide: July 18th, 2025

#25 #2025 #ChileanMetal #DeathMetal #Gojira #GrooveMetal #Jul25 #Mastodon #Mawiza #MercyfulFate #Metalcore #Pantera #Review #Reviews #SeasonsOfMist #UL

#TheMetalDogArticleList
#Blabbermouth
ÜL

https://blabbermouth.net/reviews/ul

#Mawiza #ÜL #MapucheNation #SeasonOfMist #JoeDuplantier #Gojira #ChileanMetal #SpiritualResistance #MapucheMetal #ChileanMusic

#TheMetalDogArticleList
#BraveWords–WhereMusicLives
REVIEW: IRON SPELL’s From The Grave – “Should Have Been Better”

https://bravewords.com/album-reviews/review-iron-spells-from-the-grave-should-have-been-better/

#IronSpell #FromTheGrave #DyingVictims #ChileanMetal #HeavyMetal #ElectricConjuring #NWOTHM #MetalReview #BraveWords